M (Judi Dench) | James Bond Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Film biography GoldenEye (1995) Tanner: "Seems your hunch was right, 007. It's too bad the Evil Queen of Numbers wouldn't let you play it... (Bond clears his throat at Tanner to tell him that she is right behind him)" M: "You were saying?" Tanner: "No, no, I was just..." M: "Good, because if I want sarcasm, Mr. Tanner, I'll talk to my children, thank you very much." ―M scowls Tanner for calling her "The Evil Queen of Numbers". M briefs Bond in GoldenEye. She makes her debut in GoldenEye, after Tanner , her Chief of Staff, refered her as "the evil queen of numbers", given her reputation at that stage for relying on statistics and analysis rather than impulse and initiative.

Bond, who returned from his evaluation and attempt to stop a prototype helicopter to be stolen, he warns him that M, who had just came in, was behind them which she soon responds to Tanner's "Evil Queen of Numbers" jab by telling him that when she wants to hear sarcasm she'll listen to her own children. After the first GoldenEye satellite was set off and the three MIGs that were sent to intercept an emergency call, this got M and Bond to talk in her office. She offers him a drink and rejects her predecessor's cognac and gives him bourbon and ice. During the briefing, M knows Bond doesn't trust her and that she thinks Bond is a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War." After the briefing, M wishes him good luck and to come back alive. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) In the pre-credits scene, M is observing Bond's mission via TV on the Russian border in regards to him stopping a terrorist arms bazaar. He is to keep tabs on US techno-terrorist Henry Gupta . M sends Bond on a mission to Hamburg in order to "pump information" from his old squeeze, Paris Carver , now married to Elliot Carver .

His other objective is to use Paris's information in order to infiltrate CEO Elliot Carver's CMGN (Carver Media Group Network) newspaper HQ in Hamburg. He is to retake the GPS encoder Henry Gupta bought previously in the Russian border. The World is Not Enough (1999) She sends Bond to recover some money for an old friend and when he came back successfully, she introduces the friend as Sir Robert King (she states that they studied law together at Oxford) and as King went to get his money, she and Bond drink to Bond's successful mission, which is soon cut short when Bond discovers the ice in his drink had dissolved into foam and a weird substance was on his hands, he soon runs out of the office and has Moneypenny to try and stop King, but it was too late and an explosion goes off in the evidence room, killing King and damaging a part of MI6. Bond tried to arrest the assassin but the woman commits suicide by blowing the hot-air balloon she commandeered and Bond soon fractured his left shoulder. After the funeral and comforting a tearful Elektra King , she puts Bond on the inactive roster due to his injury and MI6 relocates to Scotland. After Bond seduces Dr.

Molly Warmflash into giving him a clean bill of health, she briefs Bond about Renard , who previously kidnapped Elektra, was still alive after an attempt on his life by 009 who was sent to try and rescue Elektra, but she already escaped after killing two of her captors. Renard was shot in the head but survived, the bullet lodged in his brain made him feel no pain, taste or smell. Elektra called M and informed her that Bond left her alone and killed her head of security, she has M sent to her location. Later, M talked with Bond about Elekta but warns her that she might have Stockholm syndrome. After Bond and Christmas Jones were thought to have been killed in Elektra's pipeline, she gives M a present, her father's pin. She soon has her men kill M's men that were present and before she took her, M managed to slap Elektra but was soon taken for revenge. (She convinced King's father to not pay her ransom.) While held captive in Maiden's Tower , Istanbul, she was visited by Renard who put a clock outside her cell and just out of reach, so she would know exactly when she would die.

She soon feels something in her pocket and finds the locator card that Bond gave her when the plutonium was stolen. Knowing that she could use the clock's battery to give power to the card as a way of signalling for help, he tries to get the clock closer to her but accidentally makes it fall. Later, she fooled Elektra into placing the clock to the bars of her cell, giving M the chance to braodcast her location to Bond. Bond and Jones were caught but Bond escaped thanks to Valentin Zukovsky 's intervening before his death. Bond managed to grab King's M1911 and chases after her and M yells to Bond, who manages to stop in time to shoot the lock off her cell, while chasing after Elektra. After Bond coldly killed Elektra, she sees him stroke the dead girl's hair before he runs out to stop Renard from using Zukovsky's nephew's submarine.

Later, near the end of the film, she observes R trying to find Bond and Jones after they stopped Renard, managed to find them in a room, making out, causing R to press the "Esc" button, cutting the feed, saying it was a "premature form of the Millennium Bug." Die Another Day (2002) When Bond (bearded and long haired) was rescued from Korea after 14 months of torture, she thinks Bond spitted out secrets out to them. She also informs him that Zao , who was exchanged for Bond, killed three Chinese agents and before she left, she fires Bond and has him to be sent to an evaluation center to see if he was still useful, but later that night, Bond escaped. After Bond pursued Zao to Cuba and attacked a genetic clinic, the NSA director (who was also present when Bond was freed) thinks she had Bond escape. Later on, after Bond won a fencing match with Gustav Graves , she had a letter sent to the fencing club, revealing a key to an old train station where she rehires Bond.

In the recently promoted Q's training simulation, she is simulated to have been held hostage and Bond and Robinson try to rescue her but Robinson is (falsely) killed and Bond killed two of the terrorists that were also in the room. In an attempt to kill the last terrorist, who is holding M, Bond shoots the terrorist's hand, giving M a flesh wound and giving Bond the chance to kill him. She also briefs Miranda Frost , who is working undercover as Graves' publicist for work experience that she will see Bond in Iceland. Later, after Bond killed Zao and rescued NSA Agent Jinx , who was also in Iceland to kill Zao, M and the NSA agent Damian Falco briefly talk, now aware that Frost was a double agent and that Graves is actually Colonel Moon. M and Falco send Bond and Jinx to kill Graves. After Graves' plane is destroyed M sighs in relief while the Falco lights a cigarette. Casino Royale (2006) Following actor Pierce Brosnan 's departure from the role of 007 and the rebooting of the franchise with the 2006 film Casino Royale , Dench continued to perform the character of M for a further three films.

In this new continuity, M implies that she has worked for MI6 for some time, at one point muttering, "Christ, I miss the Cold War". [3] When she heard Bond had broke into an embassy and killed Mollaka she furiosly told Bond (who broke into her apartment to use her laptop) they wanted to question him, not to kill him. When she asked Bond how he knew where she lived, she threatened to kill him should he utter her name. Claiming it was too early to promote him to '00' status, Bond reassured her that 00s have short lives. After calming down a little, she tells Bond that she needs him out of her sight and to take a vacation. As Bond walked to the elevator, she tells him not to break in again. M was seen sleeping with an unknown man, probably her husband, when her assistant Villiers rudely called her in the middle of the night. Claiming he was going to share Bond's holiday plans, he reassures her that Bond was looking at Alex Dimitrios using her username and password.

When Bond called from Miami International Airport she wondered why he was there but Villiers soon realised that Mollaka's replacement was going to destroy the Skyfleet prototype. After Bond stopped him and a misunderstanding with Miami police, M went over to the Bahamas to talk with Bond, who was observing the dead body of Solange Dimitrios and told him that Dimitrios worked as a middleman. She also informed him that Le Chiffre had lost over $100 million for Bond's intervening and he has now placed a poker game at Casino Royale in an attempt to recover it. Placing Bond in the game to replace Bliss, she presumably hired Vesper Lynd to keep an eye on Bond. Later on, after Bond managed to win after an attempted poisoning, M was received a resignation note from Bond and called him, asking if he was going to deposit the winnings. After Vesper committed suicide, she informed 007 that she had a French Algerian boyfriend named Yusef Kabira . Quantum (not known until next film) blackmailed her when he was kidnapped, threatening to kill him if she refuse to cooperate. Unbeknownst to her, Vesper left Mr.

White 's phone number to Bond and at the end of the film, 007 shot Mr. White in the leg and arrested him. Quantum of Solace (2008) Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster suggested that Dench's casting gave the character maternal overtones in her relationship with Bond. [4] M ends up spending most of the movie trying to work around the fact that her one trusted agent can get his assigned mission done all while he goes rogue. At the end of the film, she is rather impressed with how he uncovered the whole Quantum conspiracy involving Vesper and Mr. White's associates. Skyfall (2012) Dench's final appearance as M was in the 2012 film Skyfall , in which her character is at the center of the film's plot. The plot revolves around former MI6 agent turned terrorist Raoul Silva trying to get revenge by killing his former boss, who sold him out to the Chinese when she discovered he was engaging in activities outside his authority by hacking the Chinese without authorization.

It is curious to note that during the course of Casino Royale, M at one point makes the comment "...these bastards want your head, and I am seriously considering feeding you to them" to Bond when he goes outside his authority by shooting up an embassy, possibly making a veiled reference to what she had done to the former Tiago Rodriguez many years earlier. M was on the verge of retiring by Gareth Mallory , but she turns it down, thinking he is firing her and left the meeting early and along the way, they were stopped by a roadblock and when M went to complain to the police, an explosion goes off in MI6, killing eight of her people and resorting them to go underground. One night, when she came home, she was about to have a drink, but then she hears a bottle lid popping and she turns to see James Bond, silhouetted in the dark. M soon asked the agent, who was presumed dead three months earlier "Where the hell have you been?" Which Bond replies "Enjoying death." Asking to report for duty, she turned on the light to see the agent, bearded and drinking, she doesn't apologize for the miss shot that hit Bond and has him evaluated (and a shower).

She also told him that his house was sold when he was presumed dead and his stuff is in storage. After saying he will find a hotel, she quips "Well, you're bloody well not sleeping here." After Bond failed all his tests, she lies and tells him that he passed, and when the shrapnel from Bond's wound was identified, leading them to Patrice , she orders him to find and interrogate Patrice. She was soon sent a YouTube clip of five MI6 Agents and had Tanner to get them out. When three agents were killed, Mallory orders M to come to an inquiry. When Bond arrests Silva, she visits him and tells him that she will remove his memorial plaque off the very wall Silva attacked. Leaving Bond and Q to try and decode Silva's laptop, she went to the inquiry. During the inquiry, Tanner tries to tell her to leave as Silva escaped but she refuses and when it gets more complicating, Mallory asks for M to speak and they allow her. After quoting Tennyson, the inquiry was soon under attacked by Silva and when he tries to shoot her, Mallory saves her by taking the bullet to his shoulder.

M was soon carried out of the inquiry by Tanner, only for her car to start driving off and Bond behind the wheel. When they went to a storage container, she thinks that they are hiding in it, but Bond rephrases her that he is only changing cars. After seeing Bond's Aston Martin DB5 , she thinks of it as "inconspicuous". After saying the car wasn't comfortable, Bond threatens to eject her but soon rethinks and keeps driving. Along the way, Bond stopped and they looked at an empty field in Scotland, where Bond grew up. Asking how old Bond was when his parents died, he doesn't answer and she soon replies "Orphans always make the best recruits." continuing along, they stop at Bond's family home and upon looking around, they are confronted by a shotgun wielding old man, who recognizes James and lowers his gun. Bond introduces Kincade to M and they explain why they were in Skyfall Lodge and they answered that some men will come kill them, but they will kill them first. Being shortly armed, Bond gives her his Walther PPK while he has his father's hunting rifle.

M helps set some traps by breaking light bulbs and replacing them with nails and Kincade's shotgun shells. She tried to shoot one of the men but was hit in her hip, dropping the gun in the process and Bond manages to save her and asked if she was hurt but she dismissed it. She was soon told by Bond to run down a priest's hole that Kincade showed her earlier and attempts to flee to the estate's chapel. Silva meanwhile makes his way to the chapel and forces his gun into M's hand where he begs her to kill them both. Bond arrives and kills Silva, but M collapses from her earlier wound and dies, but before she dies she tells Bond that she chose something right and that was hiring Bond for work and trusting him. Her position as head of MI6 is taken by Mallory. She left Bond her infamous Bulldog Ornament . The inscription reads: ‘From the Estate of Olivia Mansfield Bequeathed to James Bond’. This is presumably M's real name. Spectre (2015) In Spectre , her face briefly appears in part of the opening title sequence. She also later appears in a video message that she had recorded for Bond sometime during the events of Skyfall.

During the message she tells Bond that if anything happens to her then she wants him to find and kill Marco Sciarra . Bond completes this final mission for her during the pre-title sequence of the film. Video Game appearances Judi Dench lent her likeness to the The World Is Not Enough video game. She also provided her voice in a few video games. In Everything or Nothing , she briefs Bond before his missions. She had a short role in GoldenEye: Rogue Agent where she narrates at the beginning regarding the player, who was shot in the right eye three years prior by Dr. No. In order to make sure the agent is unfit for duty, she has him put in a simulator. After the agent failed, she fires him for recklessness and the 'death' of 007. She appears in the videogame version of Quantum of Solace , which combines the storylines of the 2006 version of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace . She is seen at the beginning of Blood Stone , trying to get a general to stop a fundraiser as a terrorist is planning on destroying, but the general ignores her and has her to have faith and trust in the general.

Later when Bond stops the bomb, the general thinks they were fireworks and M congratulates 007 and orders a drink for him. As well as Daniel Craig's likeness in all levels of 007 Legends , Judi Dench only voiced her character in this game. A female M also appeared as a voice-only role in Agent Under Fire and Nightfire , portrayed by Caron Pascoe and Samantha Eggar, respectively. Personality A cold, blunt woman, as the head of MI6 M took her role extremely seriously which contradicts with Bond's humorous outlook. She was calm, intelligent, stoic, pragmatic, resourceful and analytical however she also deals with doubt and uncertainty from her agents and even some other government officials. Specifically that whereas other M's were males she was a woman and this led to question of her authority, so much that Bill Tanner described her as "The Evil Queen of Numbers" which earned him a jabbing remark from the latter. M is a woman who only believes only in the facts and logistics rather than actual intuition which won her nickname from Tanner however there are times when she will act on impulse, such as when she refused to give Bond to the CIA despite him being rogue and claims that she trusts him.

This was also shown when she urged Moneypenny to take the shot to kill Patrice despite her not having a clean one and the chance she could kill Bond simply because she didn't want the list in the wrong hands. M is a non-action woman and normally operated behind the scenes while letting agents do the work. She is an excellent strategist, using death traps to defend Skyfall from Silva's men and could easily manipulate and understand other people's motives however she is something of a lousy shot claiming that it's been years since she actually fired a gun. M is incredibly stubborn, to the point where Silva had escaped from MI6 security, and was on the warpath to kill her at her inquiry but refused to leave as to not show the minister her back.She also displays an almost ruthless side to her; during the events of Skyfall M reveals how she respected a brilliant agent Tiago Rodriguez until he went his above pay grade by hacking into the Chinese which prompts her to sell him to the people he hacked, earning three agents in return. She was also prepared to feed Bond to the bastards who want his head after he was photographed killing an African embassy.

If it is needed M will occasionally put the mission above the safety and well-being of her agents which was shown when Patrice had hit the field agent, Ronson and Bond took the time to stabilise him she urged to leave him and pursue the list. However she showed genuine concern for the agents whose disguise were uncovered when Silva posted their names on YouTube. M spent most of her time in the movies interacting with Bond. The two were complete opposites; whereas M was rational and calculated, Bond had a higher degree of recklessness. M was able to deduce that 007 didn't like her and mocks Bond further by describing him as "a sexist, misogynistic dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War" however they cannot deny a mutual respect and trust for one another, M was willing to defy the CIA when they wanted Bond after he went rogue. M also makes very real threats to kill Bond if he ever broke in her house or say her real name. In her final moments she admits that it was a good idea to hire Bond and trust him.

M is quite foul-mouthed at times, describing the people who caught Bond shooting in an African Embassy as "bastards." There was one occasion when her, 007 and Kincade where defending Skyfall and she says to Bond "I really fucked this up didn't I?" M does have a sense of humour, but it is normally quite sarcastic and dry. An example would be when Bond had broken into her apartment yet again and informs her that he would be staying in a hotel for her to reply "well, you're bloody well not staying here." Then also again when 007 drives M to Skyfall where she asks "007 are you kidnapping me?" Despite her dedication to the job M also had a life outside her role as the head of MI6, she claims to Bill Tanner that she had children but these were never seen. She also had a husband but he died before the events of Skyfall. Behind the scenes The character is based on Stella Rimington, the real-life head of MI5 between 1992 and 1996. [5] [6] Dench's character was never referred to by name on-screen.

However, a prop from the final scene of Skyfall, where M bequeaths some of her possessions to Bond following her death, revealed that her character was given the name "Olivia Mansfield". As the character was never directly referred to by this name, its canonicity is unresolved. [7] Trivia With Skyfall, Judi Dench's M became the first character to use a variation of the word "fuck" on-screen in a James Bond movie. ( Timothy Dalton is seen using the word "fucking" in his debut in The Living Daylights , although he is not audible at the time, while Roger Moore used the same word in a deleted scene from A View To A Kill.) She is the first M to be killed in the line of duty. In both continuities, she is the first M to interact with the film's main villain (The World Is Not Enough & Skyfall). Gallery M (Judi Dench) :: Allies :: MI6 :: The Home Of James Bond 007 Movie: GoldenEye - Skyfall Status: Deceased Appearance: Medium build and short stature. Tight, short grey hair and blue eyes. Usually wears modern cream or grey suits.

Date of Birth: 9th December 1934 Height: 5' 1" (1.55m) Place of Birth: York, UK "If you don't think I have the balls to send a man out to die, then your instincts are dead wrong." Pleased To Meet You M became James Bond 's superior in the mid-1990s. She was quick to put Bond in his place and assert her authority, explaining to him that she would utilise the 00-section where required, despite not always condoning their methods. M joined the Intelligence community along with a series of other modernising changes - including relocating the headquarters from Regents Park to Vauxhall Cross on Thames-side. Personality The current M radiates stern efficiency and practicality. She is not afraid of sending agents to die, but on occasion, goes out of her way to help her colleagues and prevent a slaughter. She demonstrates confidence in her agents and slowly warms to the unorthodox efficiency of 007 and his colleagues in the 00-section. She is known to be a caring mother but refuses to let her compassion get in the way of performing her job and keeping Britain safe.

She ably liaises with high-profile government officials and is able to stall the political backlash against MI6 and its processes and agents on many occasions. She will always stand by her decisions and her agents. "It'd be a pretty cold bastard who didn't want revenge for someone he loved." Involvement GoldenEye - Bond is summoned to M's office where he is briefed on the whereabouts of rogue Russian General Ourumov , urging 007 in the strongest terms to refrain from making this mission personally after he witnessed the execution of his ally, Alec Trevelyan , at the hands of Ourumov. M makes it clear to Bond that she regards him as little more than a "relic of the Cold War" and is cautious of sending him after the General. Tomorrow Never Dies - M liaises with the Navy and the stern Admiral Roebuck as Bond provides the authorities with first-hand coverage of a terrorist's arms bizarre in the Khyber Pass. The pushy Navy officer authorises a missile strike, against M's advice, and it is left to Bond pick up the pieces - namely a Russian MIG fighter, armed with a nuclear weapon.

Later, M fights for her department's rights to investigate the politically connected media baron Elliot Carver and the missing HMS Devonshire that others believe was a simple, brutal attack by the Chinese air force. The World Is Not Enough - The MI6 chief sends her agent, 009, to assassinate the terrorist Renard , whilst he held the daughter of M's close friend from Oxford, Sir Robert King. His daughter, Elektra, escaped the clutches of the villain but by a fluke accident, the bullet fired by 009 was lodged in Renard's skull and instead of a swift assassination, Renard won a slow and painless death. After the assassination of Sir Robert, M assigns 007 to protect Elektra. When Bond follows a lead to Kazakhstan , Elektra plays on M's relationship with her late father and M flies to Baku to investigate for herself. Here Bond informs her that things are not what they seem and before Bond can prevent it, M is kidnapped by Elektra and taken to Maiden's Tower in the Bosphorus strait. Bond is eventually captured as well, but with the help of Zukovsky frees M and peruses Renard into the depths.

Above: M gets out of her office at MI6 in "The World Is Not Enough", visiting Elektra King at an oil pipeline facility before being kidnapped. Die Another Day - Six months after 007 is captured and tortured in North Korea, M flies to Hong Kong to speak with her recently recovered agent. She has no regrets for the time he spent in North Korean torture camps and indeed, if she had her way, Bond would still be there. Bond was in fact swapped for terrorist Zao in a political power play that overruled the MI6 chief. After Bond escapes and rustles up some fresh evidence as to the whereabouts of Zao, M concedes that it is useful to have her 00 back. They meet in a disused subway station under central London where it is rumoured agents are sent before they are blacklisted and burned. Instead, Bond is given a new lease on life and sent into the field once more. Later, M authorises an excursion into North Korea in the hopes of stopping the villainous Graves / Moon from violently uniting Korea under the North. "Unlike the America government, we prefer not to get our bad news from CNN." "Any thug can kill.

I need you to take your ego out of the equation." Casino Royale - M supports James Bond even after he is compromised on an early mission, taking flack from politicians who only care what MI6 does when they make mistakes - and when the newspapers notice. On the Casino Royale mission, M is reluctant to assign fledgling 007 to such a critical assignment - the Le Chiffre bankrupting caper - yet recognises his talent as a gambler and potential as a ruthless killer. She meets her semi-rogue 00 Agent in the Bahamas personally, to have an under-skin tracking device attached to James Bond. Her real name is almost revealed by 007 when he breaks in to her London penthouse. Quantum of Solace - Present at the interrogation of Mr. White , a key player in a mysterious terrorist organisation, M is almost assassinated by rogue MI6 agent Craig Mitchell (who is in the pay of Quantum). M tries to reign in her 00 agent, cautioning him against getting revenge for the unfortunate death of his lover, Vesper Lynd .

Eventually, M has to put a warrant for 007's arrest out after he was involved in the death of a British security officer, who was protecting a high-ranking government official. Bond alludes M and the MI6 agents tasked to bring him in until M visits Bolivia herself and discovers the truth about the sticky situation in which Bond has found himself. She allows 007 to get on with his job and finally, in Russia, M and Bond work closely together to interrogate the man who blackmailed Vesper. Quotes Bond: Construction's not exactly my specialty. M: Quite the opposite, in fact. M: You don't like me, Bond. You don't like my methods. You think I'm an accountant, a bean counter more interested in my numbers than your instincts. Bond: The thought had occurred to me. M: Well, I think you're a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War, whose boyish charms, though wasted on me, obviously appealed to that young woman I sent out to evaluate you. Bond: I always thought M was a randomly assigned letter.

I had no idea it stood for - M: [quickly interrupting] Utter one more syllable and I'll have you killed. M: You don't trust anyone, do you? Bond: No. M: Then you've learned your lesson. M: Who the hell do they think they are? I report to the Prime Minister and even he's smart enough not to ask me what we do. Have you ever seen such a bunch of self-righteous, ass-covering prigs? They don't care what we do; they care what we get photographed doing.. M: After Elektra King was kidnapped, her father tried to deal with it on his own, with no success. So he came to me. As you are aware, we do not negotiate with terrorists. And against every instinct in my heart, every... emotion as a mother, I told him not to pay the ransom. M: We will not be terrorised by cowards who would murder, and use us as the tool. We'll find these people. We'll follow them to the farthest ends of the earth if needs be and we will bring them to justice.

Biography Born in York in 1934, the daughter of a doctor, Judith Olivia Dench attended The Mount School - a Quaker boarding school - and a Quaker public secondary school. After high-school Dench studied to work behind-the-scenes in theatre, designing sets, before finding a passion for on-stage performance. She first played on stage in the 1950s before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company for a 1961 production of "The Cherry Orchard". As a graduate of the Central School for Speech and Drama, today Dench is a five-time BAFTA winner and worldwide star. A veteran of the Bond franchise as well as the theatre and screen - "Quantum of Solace" marked the Judi Dench's sixth appearance in a Bond picture, after her 007-debut in 1995's "GoldenEye". She will go on to reprise her role in Bond 23, due out in 2011. As well as the BAFTAs, Dench has also been rewarded with an Academy Award for her role in "Shakespeare in Love", in which she portrayed Queen Elizabeth I.

Widely regarded as one of the finest actors of stage and screen in anyone's lifetime, Dench was honoured with an OBE and the title of Dame Judi Dench in 1988. Dame Judi has appeared in a string of successful British dramas and comedies, including, "Mrs. Brown", "Chocolat", "Iris", "The Shipping News", "Therese Raquin" and "The Importance of Being Earnest". More recently she has earned Oscar nods for "Mrs Henderson Presents" (2005) and "Notes on a Scandal" (2006). She has continued her on-stage career despite immense success in film and television throughout the 21st century. Dench appeared in "Madame de Sade" in 2009 and she will return to "A Midsummer's Nights Dream" in 2010. In the 1980s and early '90s, Dench directed several prominent stage productions, including "Romeo and Juliet" at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in 1993.

Dame Judi was married to the actor Michel Williams (whom she acted opposite on numerous occasions) for 30 years until his death in 2001. James Bond’s boss, M, to die in ‘Skyfall’ — maybe. Who should take over? – EW.com Pinterest Karen Ballard It was upsetting enough when rumors started popping up online that James Bond’s vintage Aston Martin was going to get blown to smithereens in the next 007 movie. But this is just too much: The British tabloids are reporting that Judi Dench’s top spy character, M, is going to get killed off in Skyfall, currently shooting in England. Dench took over the role back when Pierce Brosnan was being fitted for his first tuxedo, in 1995’s GoldenEye, and was the only actor from that series of Bond films to make the transition into the Daniel Craig era. The role has a long tradition—the late great Bernard Lee launched the character on the big screen in 1962’s Dr.

No, and played it until 1979’s Moonraker—but Dench, 77, brought a fresh take to the part that charmed even die-hard fans of the Sean Connery epoch. In fact, making M a woman was one of the smartest choices Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson made when they took over the franchise from their father, Cubby Broccoli, in 1995. Casting a class act like Dame Dench was a stroke of pure genius. Eon Productions, the company that produces all things Bond, won’t comment on the rumors of Dench’s rumored departure from the franchise. But then Eon never comments on any rumors. So lets for the moment assume it’s true. Who should replace Dench as the head of the British Secret Service? Should it be a woman again? Helen Mirren? Vanessa Redgrave? Susan Boyle? Or is it a man’s turn again? We know Ralph Fiennes has a role in Skyfall, presumably as an upper level Secret Service employee. Rumor has it he’s warming up for the role. What do you think, PopWatchers? Who should play M if Dench departs?

(And while we’re at it, is it time to bring Q back?) Read more: Bond Girls: GoldenEye (1995) GoldenEye (1995) Greatest Bond Girls in James Bond Films Title Screen Film Title/Year/Director, Bond Girl (Actress) Screenshots d. Martin Campbell Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) This was the first film of four, for Samantha Bond in the role of a liberated Miss Moneypenny (simply Moneypenny in the credits), appearing in all the Pierce Brosnan Bond films. In London, England, Moneypenny escorted Bond into the situation room to speak to his superior, M (Judi Dench for the first time in the role).

He complimented the secretary on her lovely "after-hours" professional attire: "Dressing to kill?" She good-naturedly boasted about being on a theater date with a gentleman, causing Bond to mention he was "devastated," claiming: "What would I ever do without you?" She quipped: "As far as I can remember, James, you've never had me." He replied: "Hope springs eternal." She joked that their conversation could qualify as sexual harrassment, and Bond asked if there was a penalty. Moneypenny asserted: "Someday you have to make good on your innuendos." GoldenEye (1995) Caroline (Serena Gordon) After the credits played, Bond (Brosnan) sped along a mountain road above Monte Carlo (in the South of France) in his sleek, gray 1964 Aston Martin DB5. His passenger was nervous MI6 agent Caroline (Serena Gordon), sent by his superior to psychologically evaluate him - she was fearfully panicked and complaining about the "spirited ride," when they were followed by a 1995 red Ferrari Spider convertible.

After Bond exchanged a flirtatious smile with "the next girl" (Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen)) - the red-gloved brunette driver of the other car, they engaged in a dangerous car race down the hill, evading obstacles such as a hay-truck and a group of ascending cyclists. She eventually outmaneuvered Bond and sped away into the distance, when Bond obeyed Caroline's order to stop his car. He deferred to her: "As you can see, I have no problem with female authority." He seduced her with his vehicle's refrigerated compartment holding Bollinger champagne, and although she claimed he was "incorrigible," she acquiesed and willingly kissed Bond (who joked: "Let's toast to your evaluation, shall we? A very thorough evaluation"). GoldenEye (1995) Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) Natalya was a smart level-two computer programmer assigned to the Russian Severnaya Space Installation Control Centre in Siberia. Simonova worked alongside nerdy computer genius Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming), who prided himself on his hacking skills.

She witnessed the wholesale slaughter of the entire staff (she was one of two survivors), by two Janus crime syndicate members: General Arkady Ourumov (Gottfried John) and psychopathic femme fatale Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen). She also saw the destruction of the facility by an electro-magnetic pulse from a stolen, clandestine Russian satellite weapons system called GoldenEye (capable of firing a massive, crippling Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)). Simonova escaped the burning wreckage through the centre's roof and emerged into the freezing Arctic weather. Simonova later arrived via train in St. Petersburg, where she contacted the other survivor by email, her colleague Boris, but he double-crossed her when they met - bringing along Onatopp. She first met Bond (Brosnan) inside a French Tiger helicopter where they were both bound together and about to be self-destructed by its own missiles although Bond was able to eject their cockpit to safety. However, they then found themselves arrested by Russian soldiers and taken to a cell. She was distrustful of the British government agent, and at first claimed that computer programmer Boris was the inside traitor responsible for the destruction of Severnaya.

When the two were questioned by the Russian Defence Minister Dimitri Mishkin (Tcheky Karyo), Bond told him that he had a traitor in his ranks, while Natalya blurted out to Mishkin that the real traitorous culprit wasn't Boris, but General Ourumov who had stolen the Golden Eye missile access, set it off, and targeted the Severnaya facility for destruction ("He killed everyone and stole the GoldenEye"). She also mentioned the existence of a second GoldenEye satellite. Suddenly, Ourumov burst into the room, and shot Mishkin and his bodyguard dead using Bond's Walther PPK to try and frame him. Bond grabbed a guard's weapon as he and Simonova escaped, fleeing and dodging a barrage of bullets from Russian soldiers during a ferocious gunfight in the building's hallways and archive room. She was recaptured and driven away in a car driven by Ourumov, but Bond escaped. He followed after her with a tank driven through the streets of St.

Petersburg, as she was taken hostage aboard an old Russian ICBM-missile train - the mobile headquarters of the Janus group, led by Bond's former colleague and friend Alex Trevelyan (Sean Bean). The villain unsuccessfully tried to seduce her ("To the victor go the spoils...You may even learn to like me"), and later told Bond she "tastes like..like strawberries." Via a computer trace, Natalya helped Bond locate Janus' base in Cuba before narrowly escaping with him from the train, set to self-destruct. She proposed taking a trip to Cuba with him to assist with her vital computer skills, asking if he knew how to disarm the GoldenEye weapon -- he quipped: "I suppose that depends on what kind of weapon you're talking about disarming" - and they kissed for the first time. On a Caribbean beachfront at sunset, Simonova tried to convince Bond to give up his profession -- "All of you, with your guns, your killing, your death. For what? So you can be a hero?

All the heroes I know are dead." She argued that he would forever be alone: "It's what keeps you alone" - and then they passionately kissed, and retreated to the beach-house for love-making before a fire, within a mosquito-netted bed. She accompanied Bond and was able to prevent the second rogue nuclear warhead GoldenEye satellite (Mischa) from destroying London - the plan of the Janus crime syndicate was to electronically steal money from British banks, erase or cover up their electronic financial schemings by directing an EMP at London, thereby causing a global economic catastrophic meltdown. She broke into the computer center's control room and although later captured, she successfully redirected the second GoldenEye satellite (and its nuclear device) to burn up over the Atlantic Ocean during re-entry in the upper atmosphere. She also piloted a helicopter to rescue herself and Bond by film's end, and on the jungle floor, they kissed each other, thrilled to be alive, before being airlifted by a US Marine helicopter to safety.

GoldenEye (1995) Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) This risk-taking brunette first met Bond (Brosnan) during a spectacular but dangerous car race on a mountain road above Monte Carlo in the south of France. She wore red-gloves, flashed Bond a smile, and raced him downhill in her 1995 red Ferrari Spider convertible, with Bond in his sleek Aston Martin DB5. Bond exchanged a flirtatious smile with "the next girl" and accepted the challenge, evading obstacles such as a hay-truck and a group of ascending cyclists. She eventually outmaneuvered Bond and sped away into the distance. That evening at a Monte Carlo casino, he found the exotically-dressed mystery-driver betting at the baccarat table, suggestively smoking a long cigar. He lost the first round, while mentioning that they shared three of the "same passions." She said that she only counted two: "motoring and baccarat" - both of which he had lost: "I hope the third is where your real talent lies." He claimed "one rises to meet a challenge" and won the second hand.

When she left the table, he followed after her and ordered drinks for both of them ("vodka martini, shaken not stirred") although she wanted hers "straight up, with a twist." He introduced himself, customarily, after which she identified herself as Xenia Zaragevna Onatopp (Famke Janssen) - with a Georgian-Russian accent. He questioned her counterfeit license plates on her Ferrari. Their discussion was interrupted when she departed with Canadian Admiral Chuck Farrel (Billy J. Mitchell) of the Department of National Defence. Through a transmission with his secretary Moneypenny (Samantha Bond), Bond learned that Onatopp was an ex-Soviet fighter-pilot with "current suspected links to the Janus crime syndicate, St.

Petersburg." He was authorized to "observe" Onatopp but it was stipulated "no contact without prior approval." Moneypenny ended the transmission: "I hope you'll stay 'on-a-topp' of things." During a love-making scene on the luxury yacht with Canadian Admiral Farrel, the nymphomaniacal assassinatrix, with black eye shadow and red lips, achieved orgasm while suffocating the Admiral with her long legged, muscle-bound thighs used as a body scissors-vice clamped around his mid-section (she liked to be 'on-top'), in order to steal his ID badge and use his identity to hijack a new state-of-the-art, high-tech stealth helicopter named the Tiger. She was competitive, sexy and deadly at the same time, and the first Bond girl to obviously experience an orgasm. The femme fatale character of Xenia Onatopp massacred almost the entire staff of the Soviet Space Weapons Control Centre, a Russian space installation in Severnaya, Russia (Siberia) - in a memorable scene, the physically-lethal, sociopathic female exhibited sadistic pleasure in creating the carnage with a machine-gun. At Bond's St.

Petersburg, Russia hotel where he was relaxing in the swimming pool, he sensed the presence of a robed intruder who had entered the Turkish steam bath area. When he held Xenia at gunpoint, she advised: "You don't need the gun, Commander." He quipped: "That depends on your definition of 'safe sex'." When she passionately embraced and kissed him, he cautioned: "That's close enough" although she demanded: "Not for what I have in mind." She then assaulted Bond, and they struggled in a bout of rough sex play (Xenia: "Oh, you think you can hurt me"). On top of a massage table, she gripped his sides with her deadly scissors-like thighs, enjoying the sexual sensations, until he pushed her back against a wall ("Xenia: "You think you can break me"), and then placed her on a hot grating and flipped her over, before regaining his gun and ordering her to put him in touch with her crime syndicate boss: "No more foreplay.

Take me to Janus." The trail led to the villain, Bond's former colleague and friend Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) - it also brought Bond into contact with the deadly female one last time. She met her demise when she attempted to kill Bond after he had survived a light plane crash in the jungles of Cuba. Harnessed and suspended from a helicopter, she abseiled down and used her trademark scissors-thigh grip on him ("This time, Mr. Bond, the pleasure will be all mine"). He clipped her into her harnessed rappelling rope, and shot with her weapon toward the circling helicopter above. When the chopper began to crash, Onatopp was propelled backwards into a Y-shaped tree, where she was brutally crushed by the impact (Bond: "She always did enjoy a good squeeze"). Greatest Bond Girls in James Bond Films (chronological, each Bond film a separate page) The Bond Film Informant: M The fact that Bond has a superior called M is another ingredient in the famous formula of the James Bond films.

In The James Bond Bedside Companion, Raymond Benson suggests that the character was probably based on Rear Admiral John Godfrey, the British Director of Naval Intelligence, whom Ian Fleming worked for during the Second World War. However, the idea is clearly influenced by the fact that the real director general of the Secret Service is known as C (after Mansfield Cumming, the founder of MI6 and its original director general). In his biography of Fleming, John Pearson suggests that the choice of M was inspired by the fact that this was what a young Fleming called his mother. To date three actors have played the part of M, the head of the Secret Service - Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and Judi Dench. GoldenEye made it clear for the first time that M was the designation for a position rather than one particular person, with Dench playing a new M. This approach was previously used in the non-EON film Never Say Never Again where Edward Fox played a new M. It is clear that Bernard Lee's character, the original M, was intended to be the M of Fleming's novels, who was named as Admiral Sir Miles Messervy in "The Man With The Golden Gun".

This is confirmed in the films in You Only Live Twice (M wears an Admiral's uniform), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (in which Bond visits Quarterdeck, M's home, and is directed towards "the Admiral") and The Spy Who Loved Me (in which General Gogol calls the character Miles). The first of these films is interesting since it is the only time that we have seen M off-duty. We discover that he has a butler, Chief Petty Officer Hammond, and collects butterflies. Due to illness, Lee was almost absent from Live and Let Die, and Kenneth More was apparently set to resume the role. However, Lee recovered and continued until his death in 1981, prior to For Your Eyes Only. As a mark of respect the part was not immediately recast and M was said to be on leave. Then Robert Brown made his first appearance in Octopussy. There is an interesting debate as to whether Robert Brown's M is still intended to be Miles Messervy (in the way that Bond and Moneypenny have been played by different actors) or is actually a different character who has now been designated M.

Indeed, it is has been speculated that the new M is in fact Admiral Hargreaves, the character that Brown played in The Spy Who Loved Me. There is little evidence to point in either direction. For Brown's first appearance in Octopussy there is no dialogue to indicate a new M and it is all business as usual. This fits with the press material for the film which apparently stated that Brown was intended to be the same character as Lee. There appears to be some useful evidence when Brown's M is referred to as "Admiral" by General Gogol in A View to a Kill. Unfortunately, since both Messervy and Hargreaves were Admirals this evidence isn't particularly conclusive! As a final point on this issue, it is worth noting that in the literary continuity of the novels penned by John Gardner and Raymond Benson, it is made clear that it is Miles Messervy who is replaced by a female M. Following the hiatus in the series between Licence To Kill and GoldenEye some changes were made to the role of M.

Inspired by the fact that MI5, one of Britain's security agencies, was headed by a woman (Stella Rimmington) respected stage actress Judi Dench was cast as a new M. The character also reflected modern concerns in initially being considered more of an accountant than her predecessors, concerned more with budgets than her staff, again reminiscent of the Edward Fox character in Never Say Never Again, although Bond and the new M have a more stable working relationship by the time of Tomorrow Never Dies. In his original Bond novel "The Facts Of Death" Raymond Benson names this M as Barbara Mawdsley. In GoldenEye it is mentioned that she has children. Early drafts of the script for that film also implied that Bond and M had had a relationship at some point in the past. However, we have learnt a little about the most recent M in the movies: both GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough make reference to the fact that she has children, and the latter film reveals that she studied law at Oxford where she met Sir Robert King. The Bond Film Informant was compiled by Matthew Newton . © Copyright MJ Newton. No part of this site may be reproduced without permission unless otherwise stated.

Question: Who played "M" in the Bond film Goldeneye?
Answer: Judi Dench